The Survival of the Muʿtazila Tradition of Qur'anic Exegesis in Sh ʿ and Sunn taf s r

Like all other Islamic sects and movements, the Muʿtazil s were very attentive to the study of the Qur'an and many among their ranks authored books on Qur'anic exegesis. Unfortunately, the overwhelming majority of taf s r compiled by Muʿtazil s are not extant and, for a long time, the vast majority of the scholarly community has been under the impression that the only surviving Muʿtazil tafs r was al-Zamakhshar 's Kashsh f . However, two other major Muʿtazil taf s r have come to light, and now we can begin to determine the contribution of the Muʿtazil exegetical tradition to the field of tafs r . This study will argue that the demise of the Muʿtazila does not necessarily mean that their tradition of Qur'anic exegesis died out; nor for that matter their theology and religious thought. To this end, it will examine two cases that demonstrate that the Muʿtazil tradition of Qur'anic exegesis was, at least to some extent, absorbed into the mainstream exegetical traditions of Twelver Sh ʿism and Sunnism. The first case details the influence of al-Jishum 's Tahdh b on Majmaʿ al-bay n by the prominent Twelver Sh ʿ exegete al-Ṭabris . The second shows the reliance of the paramount Sunn theologian and philosopher Fakhr al-D n al-R z in his Maf t ḥ al-ghayb on al-Kashsh f by al-Zamakhshar .